Clock Town

─── General ───

Movement to ECT 100r chest and bomb shop

Movement from Deku Playground to Inn

─── East Clock Town ───

Backwalk past guard

It is very easy to exit to Termina Field as Deku, even during first cycle, by backwalking past the East Clock Town guard. The angle must be roughly parallel with the wall but is not precise.

Goron pound into Stock Pot Inn

setup by Pushy
frame data documented by Imbued

Done quickly and unbuffered, this gets to the upper inn door a couple of seconds faster than the Zora gainer strat.

  1. Enter ECT from SCT as Goron
  2. After a moment, target and wait for the camera to settle
  3. Hold target + right to guano walk up-right
  4. Full sidehop right on the 18th frame
  5. Hold shield midair to stop perfectly upon landing
  6. ESS turn left for 10 frames (angle 0x8650) or 11 frames (angle 0x8D58)
  7. If angle 0x8650: Curl, hold left for 2 frames, press B to pound. You uncurl when you have high height in your pound, which is a 7-frame window (your Y position will be 194.5, Y position on the ground is 100). You can hold left or up (or even right, though not recommended since you can easily walk off the roof afterwards).
  8. If angle 0x8D58: Curl, hold right for 2 frames, press B to pound. Uncurl at high height (7-frame window). Hold up or left or right out of the curl to land on the roof (holding up prevents walking off)

Zora gainer into Stock Pot Inn

This gainer is useful at in-game times when the lower door to the inn is closed. Using the Deku flower instead is easier but slightly slower. The position needed is a little precise but can easily be found using the black line shown in the video.

Honey & Darling Day 1

Start the minigame be moving straight forward from the door and talking to H&D from close by. After starting the minigame, tap up and shield drop a bombchu, then tap left and shield drop another bombchu. Roll off the platform up-left, hold target, and shield drop a bombchu midair to hit another target and recoil back to the platform. From here, run to flat sides of the platform and shield drop bombchus when Link aligns with the targets.

Honey & Darling Day 2

Throw the bombs in the baskets.

Honey & Darling Day 3

If you enter the building as Deku, there will be 8 targets on the walls instead of 16, even if you transform back to human before beginning the minigame.

Weird B

This puts the bottled seahorse on Zora Link's B button on JP, which is useful for 100%. For more information, see the Weird B page.

  1. Enter H&D on Day 3 as Deku with human's B button blank (sword stolen or given to the smithy); entering as Deku is not required but reduces the number of targets
  2. Transform to human
  3. Equip Zora Mask on a c-button
  4. Equip swap a usable non-transformation mask over the Deku Mask slot onto another c-button (Mask of Truth used here)
  5. Begin the minigame
  6. Shoot 7 targets
  7. Between shooting the final arrow and it hitting the 8th target, pause and equip Deku Mask over Zora Mask to put Zora Mask on the button that the non-transformation mask was on; the pause can be done while still holding B to automatically release the arrow after the pause
  8. Unpause and Link will automatically transform to Zora

Zora Link now has seahorse on B (JP). If you miss the final arrow shot, use Zora fins to break the final target; note that if you need to throw fins more than once, you will need to press A to put the fins away between attempts. If you accidentally break the final target without pausing and transforming, play the minigame again to try again; note that there will be 16 targets this time unless you leave and re-enter as Deku.

Chest minigame

The path to the chest is randomized, so clipping through tiles can make winning the minigame more consistent. For any tile you want to clip through:

  1. Align Link roughly perpendicularly with the tile (not precise)
  2. Backflip and release the down input on the second frame (not a perfect tap backflip)
  3. Curl and roll forwards
  4. Release A on a frame that Link is clipped into the tile (can be pause buffered)

Town Shooting Gallery

The octorok arrangements are always the same and always pop up in the same order. To win the quiver upgrade, only 40 points are required, so it is fastest to shoot some blue octoroks prior to the final red octorok shot so that shooting one blue octorok immediately after reaching 40 points will end the minigame. For the heart piece, all 50 points are required, so all red octoroks and no blue octoroks must be hit.

Mayor hover

Hovering over the door to the mayor's residence allows entry at any time of day. This can be done with as few as 6 hovers, which is easiest when lining up as shown in the video below.

Demonstration

Milk Bar clip

See steps in video.

─── West Clock Town ───

Hidden Owl

Hitting the hidden owl statue activates Index Warp. There are several methods of doing so that are used in speedruns. The main obstacle to reaching it is that being above the load zone in front of the hidden owl at any point will put Link in South Clock Town. The hidden owl statue will only count as being activated if it is on screen for the animation where it opens its wings.

1b10c hover and sidehop

Get ISG and target the wall next to the load zone. Do 1 bomb hover followed by 10 chu hovers to get just above and behind the opposite wall. Hold sidehop right and jumpslash once Link crosses the vertical line on the wall. Hit the owl statue and void, keeping it on screen.

2b9c hover and megaflip

Target the wall, get ISG, and hover with the bomb and 9 chus. Bend a megaflip right (hold left) to reach the hidden owl.

2b8c hover and megaflip

  1. Stab while moving to flowerbed
  2. Hop onto the right side or middle of the flowerbed and target to get a consistent angle
  3. Shield drop the bomb shortly after beginning the hop to put it on the flowerbed
  4. Turn, get ISG, and begin hovering
  5. Unlock the camera on the 6th chu hover
  6. After the 8th chu hover, hold straight up on the control stick and retarget for a good angle
  7. Megaflip and hold left to curve right and land on the hidden owl platform
  8. Backwalk into the owl statue to hit it

If you fail to unlock the camera on the 6th chu hover, you can unlock it on the 7th chu hover, then proceed as normal, except that you'll need to only curve the megaflip near the end of its trajectory to avoid the load zone.

with action swap

Get action swap and light the deku stick using the torch. Roll to the SCT load zone, then line up and hit the hidden owl with the long deku stick. Fully watch the animation of the owl statue activating before leaving, otherwise the owl won't actually activate. Although the torch is only lit at night, this can also be done in the daytime by using action swap to fire a lit arrow at the torch, then getting action swap again to perform the trick as shown.

Song storage from hidden owl

After hitting the hidden owl, it is often useful to store a song to be used later.

Hover method

Sidehop off the platform, and pull a bomb and shield drop it very early in the sidehop so that the bomb falls at Link's level. Hold shield until the bomb explodes and makes Link hover. Hold up-right and mash the ocarina button to get an ocarina dive, then play the song you want to store quickly before voiding.

Recoil flip past guard

This recoil flip skips the guard's textboxes, which is important for speedruns that have a stored song when exiting West Clock Town.

Wallet dupe with collection delay

Earning the Adult's Wallet by having 200r in the bank while you have collection delay prevents the banker from issuing the text that normally follows Link getting the wallet. Without this text, the game does not recognize that Link has received the reward. Getting up to 200r in the bank again (withdrawing and then depositing 1r works) after playing Song of Time or activating stored Song of Time will result in the banker giving Link the Giant's Wallet.

  1. Target the flowerbed and stand on the right side of the step (not precise or strictly required for the glitch, just position setup)
  2. (Continue holding Z/L up to step 5)
  3. Sidehop left and hold up during the sidehop so Link grabs and climbs the ledge
  4. Walk within the banker's talking range without hopping over a gap
  5. Talk to the banker (can release Z/L after talking if desired)
  6. Deposit rupees to reach 200r+ in the bank
  7. Before the banker's text ends, begin holding Z/L again
  8. If done correctly, Link will target the banker and not receive the wallet yet
  9. Walk into the corner shown and release Z/L to receive the Adult's Wallet
  10. If done correctly, there will be no banker text after the wallet text, as being near the sign prevents it from appearing
  11. Leave/reload the area without pressing A near the banker, whose talking range is now huge
  12. Later, after playing Song of Time or activating stored Song of Time, go from under 200r to 200r+ in the bank again to receive the Giant's Wallet

Original video by SeedBorn Short position setup for steps 1 & 2 by bewildebeest

Curiosity Shop hookshot clip

This clip can get Link into the Curiosity Shop at any time of any day. Get ISG, hookshot clip through the wall, then immediately shield a bombchu to hover. Sidehop hover twice and then sidehop into the load zone. Move the control stick down during the sidehops to bend them backwards towards the door.

Rosa sisters hookshot clip

This hookshot clip is used to set up a day skip entering the Sword School.

Postman minigame

The postman minigame is significantly harder to win on JP than on English. Although Majora's Mask displays visual frames at 20fps during normal gameplay, it polls inputs at 60fps, and the final time given by the JP postman depends on the A input's 60fps input frame rather than its 20fps visual frame. This means that, barring the complications explained in the following paragraph, pressing A on the correct 20fps visual frame can yield 10.00, 10.01, or 10.03 depending on which third of the 20fps visual frame A was input on. For reference, pressing A on the previous 20fps visual frame can yield 9.95, 9.96, or 9.98, again depending on the exact timing. In short, getting 10.00 is a frame perfect 60fps input.

On top of this, due to a Wii VC emulator bug (see technical writeups linked below), under most conditions, there is a chance that any given instance of the minigame can't give a final time of 10.00; in these cases, an A input on the 60fps input frame that would normally yield 10.00 instead yields 9.99. The normally unachievable 10.02 also becomes possible, though it is the result of pressing A on a later input frame than the one that would normally yield 10.00. However, for some reason, playing the minigame as Deku after 5:15pm (when there is no music playing) mostly eliminates this problem and makes 10.00 almost always possible. On N64, this problem does not exist regardless of form and time of day.

  • Technical writeups by Deathbasket here and by Krim here
  • Experimental data by Imbued here; it is not known what the time of day was for these tests, but they demonstrate an advantage playing as Deku

Setup

This setup aims to give a consistent camera angle so that there is a good visual cue for pressing A. As Deku, target the back wall in the corner, then hold sidehop right twice. Begin holding shield during the sidehops so that Link stops moving when he lands. Press A to talk to the postman and begin the minigame. The camera will pan slowly during the minigame.

A cue runners use to know when to press A is the "locked on" triangles circling the postman's head. When the 19th triangle passes the top right side of his head and is nearly on top (see image of correct visual frame below), press A. You can also count 13 triangles after the timer numbers disappear. This requires practice, as the exact cue depends on a runner's reaction time. Tatl drifts around the postman's head throughout the minigame and can sometimes make it difficult to see the triangles.

─── Laundry Pool/Kafei's Hideout ───

Talk to Kafei through the wall

By using c-up through the wall, it is possible to target Kafei and talk to him without ascending the stairs.

Clip into Kafei's Hideout ("Index Trick")

A Deku shield recoil from an explosive can give Link enough speed to clip to the load zone to the hideout.

with a bomb

Original video by Gigo

with a bombchu

Laundry Pool Clip without explosives

Developed by Imbued, Tuerkenheimer, and thesausage

This clip is useful for becoming human in first cycle.

  1. ESS turn right x2 (you can find ESS during the load zone)
  2. Target and wait for the camera to turn
  3. Shield turn left (start holding shield while still targeted to manipulate camera)
  4. Target and wait for the camera to turn
  5. Full backflip (to avoid weird slope ESS stuff, shield and hold down; when you release shield, you have 2 frames to backflip without getting extra movement)
  6. Tap down-left-ish
  7. C-up to just under angle 4000
  8. Cancel C-up and wait for the camera to snap to 4000
  9. Set movement angle to C000 by releasing shield for 2 frames while holding target and down (it's easiest to tell the difference between 1 and 2 frames by listening to the audio)
  10. Scoot down-right-ish for 1 frame by releasing shield for 3 frames while holding target and right
  11. Turn right
  12. Target and wait for the camera to turn
  13. Tap up
  14. ESS turn left x1
  15. spin x2
  16. C-up and wait for the camera to stop moving
  17. Cancel C-up and wait for the camera to stop moving again
  18. Start walking forward
  19. Exactly 6 frames later, spin while still holding up
  20. 3-4 frames later, release stick (if you keep holding up for too long, Link will have too much forward speed)
  21. Eyeball your way around the water to the door; if you already got 4 hops, you need to take a wider turn

Alternative setups:

─── North Clock Town ───

Safe NCT bombers

The key is to walk a bit to space your last roll properly to catch the bombers without them running away.

Deku Playground Day 1

Deku Playground Day 2

This video is for an intermediate strat. The risky strat is ~4s faster than this, and the safe strat is ~3s slower than this.

Deku Playground Day 3

entering as Deku

─── Early Clock Tower ───

Clock Tower HP ISG

Center Link on the door, back up slightly, then crouch stab twice. The heart piece collection should interrupt the second crouch stab on the correct frame to cause ISG.

Hover into Clock Tower

4b0c staircase method

4c method

To make the fourth hover more lenient, delay the first hover by at least one frame of the backflip. This lets Link get farther from the Clock Tower, making it easier to prevent the fourth hover's bombchu from sticking to the wall. This video discusses this.

Goron bomb boost into Clock Tower

Drop a bomb on the platform, then transform goron. Curl up and roll slightly into the door to prevent Link from rolling down the small slope. Time a goron bomb boost for maximum height.

Hookslide into Clock Tower

  1. Line up with the torch as shown in the video and aim the hookshot at the torch (not very precise)
  2. Activate remote hookshot
  3. Run to the corner of the Clock Tower platform and target the wooden lattice (do not roll or climb)
  4. Press the empty bottle button to change the hookslide's angle
  5. Walk down-left for 5 frames (this can be done less precisely, but it risks missing the Clock Tower load zone)
  6. Press the hookshot button
  7. Before Link pulls the hookshot out, equip over the hookshot to enter the remote hookshot hover state
  8. Re-equip the hookshot and press it to hookslide through the Clock Tower door
Last updated 02/12/2025 – bewildebeest